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Unlawful Killings cover art

Unlawful Killings

By: Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC
Narrated by: Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC, Rachel Bavidge, Roy McMillan
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Every day in the UK lives are suddenly, brutally, wickedly taken away. Victims are shot or stabbed. Less often they are strangled or suffocated or beaten to death. Rarely they are poisoned, pushed off high buildings, drowned or set alight. Then there are the many who are killed by dangerous drivers, or corporate gross negligence. There are a lot of ways you can kill someone. I know because I've seen most of them at close quarters.

As one of just a few judges licensed to try murder cases at the Old Bailey, the author has presided over many of the high-profile cases that all too often grab our attention in dramatic media headlines—for every unlawful death tells a story. But, unlike most of us, a judge doesn't get to turn the page and move on. Nor does the defendant, or the family of the victim, nor the many other people who populate the court room.

Peeling apart six dramatic murder and manslaughter cases, Unlawful Killings removes this distinction between 'them' and 'us'. By detailing the inner workings of the Old Bailey and UK law, the author makes clear that each of us has a vested interest in what happens in the court room—especially when it comes to the death of a fellow human being. Any one of us could end up in the witness-box or even in the dock. And yet most people have only the sketchiest idea of what happens inside a Crown Court. With breath-taking skill and deep compassion, the author describes how cases unfold and illustrates exactly what it's like to be a murder trial judge and a witness to human good and bad. Sometimes very bad.

Right now, with our courts straining under the weight of the many heinous crimes being committed, it's not merely the system that is flawed. The fracture lines that run through our society are becoming harder and harder to ignore and, from a unique vantage point, the author warns that we do so at our peril.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Anonymous (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Absolutely superb. 5 stars for sheer readability alone. Her Honour entertains as she educates us about murder, about the law and about how we human beings are shaped as we create the culture we live with. (Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read)
Fresh, compelling, well-written and unflinchingly authentic. (Emily Penninck)
I really enjoyed this book. If ever I was on trial I would want my judge to be this one. She is compassionate, in control and understands the reality that exists outside the courtroom. Anyone who has worked in the Crown Court would recognise how true to life the court room scenes are. The fictional crime scenarios make compelling stories. What is unique is that they are placed in a wider context which challenges the assumptions that lie behind our criminal justice policy. A great read for those who want to understand how the system works now and why it is going wrong. (Cherie Blair CBE QC)

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    3 out of 5 stars

Hmmm….

Some of the characterisation of male barristers was distracting. It would appear that all Barristers are elderly upper class men who struggle to get sentences out much like Hugh Grant and all policemen sounds like Dixon of Dock Green. The summing up at the end was little more than Wooly utopian liberal guff. That we should understand the criminals from the lower ranks of society who commit crime and that it’s really our fault in some way for them doing so’ . What about those for poorer backgrounds who work, pay their taxes and don’t stab people ?

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13 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ruined by the narration

Some fascinating stories that were absolutely ruined by the hideous narration. Stupid accents that only reinforce old stereotypes made it practically impossible to listen to it
In more than one occasion I almost deleted it, but the actual content is great.
Would be fit massively from a re-record just sticking to the task and note becoming a ridiculous voice.

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5 people found this helpful

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  • em
  • 16-11-22

Great listen entertaining

An initiative and entertaining listen. My biggest complaint is the number of PDF references that are not included in the audio book....feel a little cheated.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator makes this nearly unlistenable

An interesting book which I have enjoyed but what on earth is the narrator doing? She appears to think it’s appropriate to do bizarre voices that wouldn’t be out of place in a children’s audiobook for the lawyers, defendants and witnesses in murder cases. It is fundamentally unserious and not at all appropriate given the gravity of the subject matter. Disappointing.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars

Serious intent, marred by frivolous narration

The intention behind this book is a very serious one: to explain the workings of the law in murder cases, and ultimately to seek the failings in society that lie behind murders.

Wendy Joseph, the judge and author, sets this out in a suitably sober fashion, but unfortunately at least one of the narrators undermines this aim by the frankly ridiculous voices and presentations that she gives to some of the protagonists. Many of the barristers are acted in a way that amounts to the burlesque, and the most egregious example of all is that of an expert witness: the 'eastern European' psychiatrist, who is a virtual caricature. And a flawed one at that: her accent is described as being in every way a Germanic one ('w's for 'v's, 'z's for 'th's), but the narrator portrays her with an unmistakably Russian accent (and in the process renders her statements almost incomprehensible).

I do feel as if the producer had a duty to nip this in bud, by insisting that the book not be presented as a pound-shop Rumpole of the Bailey, but with the gravitas it deserves.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good book ruined by ignorant moralising

This is a very interesting and entertaining book, and explained a good deal about the criminal justice system. YOu got drawn into each case, and wanted to know what happened to the characters in it. Some of the voices were silly, as other reviewers have said, bit this didn't spoil my enjoyment and interest. What did spoil it was the moralising at the end "wouldn't it be a good idea if we steered children away from crime by nurturing them and teaching them right from wrong" etc. I can only imagine that this author, from her high ivory tower, lives in total ignorance of the tens of thousands of educational and welfare staff dedicating their entire lives to do this, who are obviously going to be put out, not a small amount, by someone so entitled and privileged suggesting it as if no one has ever thought of that before

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

offensive accents spoiling a really good story

the stories were interesting, well written and thought provoking. but almost had to stop because of the awful performances and badly stereotyping accents. really cringe!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely superb read, I hope Her Honour will write another

Her honourable Judge Wendy Joseph QC’s accounts of sitting at the old Bailey, told with intricate detail, sharp wit, kindness, humility not to mention a formidable upholder of British justice, each chapter is summarised at the end with an explanation of the defendants crime and how it sits within society, gang culture to murder, to male teachers abusing their positions, she breaks down the trials and delivers it all so eloquently you almost feel as if you are in the court room. I do hope she is writing another book.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Returned

Hideous accents, infuriating and distracting. Couldn’t continue. Shame, as seemed like a really good book. Note to narrators : bin the stupid accents.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a phenomenal listen

it's great to find a book written by a legal professional who also knows how to tell a story. the work explains law and criminal justice systems unpatronisingly, starting with the simple ideas, moving to the more complex seamlessly. it's helping make what should be a transparent system more open in gripping prose.

love to read more, if you have it in you.

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